More and more these days, brochure fundraising is becoming a popular way for schools and organizations to make money. It’s a relatively inexpensive and fun way to get your contributors to donate to your cause. The best part is, you don’t need to go door-to-door or have schoolchildren go cold calling – if you put out the sales catalogs at work or hand them out to your relatives, you can make a fair amount of money, depending on how much you sell. With many people selling at once, money is raised fairly quickly, which is really the most important thing. The choice of items for contributors to buy may also raise more interest than having just one or two.

How does it work?

Brochure fundraising is relatively easy – all you have to do is contact a company that offers brochure fundraising. There are lots of choices for this, including cookie dough, gift wrap, candles, home and kitchen decor items, desserts, and candy, just to name a few. The good thing is, catalogs are normally free or available for a very small fee, so you don’t need a lot of overhead to run this fundraiser. You can get as many as you want.

Once you’ve chosen your company, your group will go out and take brochures around to potential customers. You can do this one of a few ways, or implement different methods for maximum profit. If you are doing this as a school fundraiser, cold-calling (or door-to-door sales) isn’t really a safe thing for children to do. Many schools get around this by emailing parents and friends to ask if they’d like to receive a brochure and place an order. Other methods include having parents take the brochures to their offices or advertising by word-of-mouth. Then, your contributors will fill out order forms and you and your volunteers will collect money at that time. This period should last about two to three weeks.

After your fundraising period, you will collect all the order forms and money and then create one large final order to place with the fundraising company. Different companies offer different methods of submitting your order, but for the most part, you can submit by mail, phone or fax. When you receive the orders, make sure to have a lot of volunteers on hand to sort and pass out the items, because the task can be daunting for one person. Some companies will do this in advance for you, but it’s rare. You may also need to provide boxes or bags to hold the items. Sometimes, including a thank-you note for the order is a nice touch, as well. Also look over the items for anything missing or broken so that you can call and get a quick replacement before the items go out.

How much can I make?

Brochure fundraisers are relatively profitable enterprises – you can make 25% to 50% profit, depending on the company and the items chosen. You will want to make sure that the company doesn’t require you to place a minimum order, because that can be money lost if you don’t sell up to what’s required. Also, find out if shipping is included or extra, because that will eat into the funds that you earn. If the company has an incentive for selling a certain amount, find out about that, too. You can motivate your sales team a lot better if you have something to reward them with at the end!

Pros and Cons of Brochure Fundraising

What are the advantages and disadvantages of fundraising with catalogs? Like all fundraisers, there are good and bad points about using this particular fundraiser. The pros include immediately-available profits, because you just pay the company and they send you your cut, and that you don’t have to carry an inventory. The best part is that you may be able to host the same fundraiser multiple times in the same year, which can give you a steady source of profit for whatever events or items you need to fundraise for. You can also choose different items each time, so that you’re not always selling the same thing. This will increase interest in the fundraiser.

However, there are cons to brochure fundraising. Customers have to pay for their product upfront, which may turn them off of buying anything because they don’t have the cash right then and there. However, you can decide to take checks – check with the company to see if they need to be made out to them or to your school, and if that’s even an option for payment. You also may need to meet a minimum order, which can be hard if your sales team doesn’t do too well with their selling. Also, beware of items that are backordered – it can slow down your whole order and you may have a lot of questions and angry customers on your hands. Check with the company to see which items are backordered to prevent this from happening.

The brochure fundraiser works well around holidays like Christmas, and food brochures like cheese, cookie dough, and candy always do very well. At the very least, you’ll get some interested parents and grandparents wanting to support the school – at the most, you’ll get people from all over the community buying things to help you out.

Featured brochure fundraising company

eFundraising Brochure Fundraisers

eFundraising.com offers a brochure fundraiser to appeal to every group.  You can earn up to a 50% profit when you choose one of their brochures.  Choose from pre-portioned cookie dough, frozen pizza, gourmet snacks and desserts, popcorn, chocolate, Reader’s Digest Home & Gift Collection (which includes toys, gift wrap, kitchen accessories, and magazines), and candles. 

They offer full color brochures that will maximize profits for your group.  Your group members will take the brochure and order form around to potential customers, take orders, and collect money upfront.  Your group will get to keep the profit right away.  You will not have to hold any inventory to sell later, so you do not need to worry about having items that you can’t sell.  They offer free shipping on all orders and delivery is within 3 weeks of placing your order.  One of their experienced fundraising consultants will help answer your questions and to pick the perfect fundraiser.    

Brochure fundraiser companies

Fundraising Zone

Fundraising Zone is a Tracy Hamilton company.  They offer numerous Fundraising brochures to appeal to all groups.  Choose from items for the home & jewelry, Auntie Anne’s pretzels, Gourmet Snacks, Cookie Dough, and Pizza & Cheesecakes.  You have the potential to earn up to a 50% profit with total sales over $5,000.  Some of the benefits with going with Fundraising Zone are free prizes for your group or a cash refund, free fundraising brochures and prize brochures; free shipping of brochures, and free envelopes and forms.  If your group has over $2,500 in sales you will qualify for free shipping and delivery of your group’s order.  Place your order worry-free as they will replace anything that is lost or missing in your order.  Top earners can receive a free ‘certificate of achievement’ that are beautifully border and are great rewards for elementary school groups.  Tracy Hamilton Inc. has been doing business since 1966.


Worthington Fundraising

Worthington Industries has been in business since 1968 and has years of experience to help your group raise money.  They offer professionally finished catalogs that will make sales easy and a free Helpful Hints Manual to teach your group how to run a successful fundraising campaign.  Choose from a variety of brochures with something for everyone.  Some examples of their brochures are Country Candle Collection, Household Essentials, Grandma’s Gourmet Country Pies, Magazine Portfolio, and a Holiday Seasonal brochure.  Qualified groups will receive 30-day full credit privileges.   Their high quality products include specially licensed products such as Looney Tunes, Precious Moments, and Mike Jordan memorabilia.  Your group will receive a custom tailored plan designed by an experienced customer service representative.  Their modern warehouse will give your group fast and accurate packing and shipping of your order.  Get a free fundraising kit to learn more.  They have a 30 day return policy on any merchandise you are not happy with.